Get Fired up for the Winners

Announcing The Winners Of The Get Fired Up Blogfest!!!!!

I want to thank each and every one of you for participating and voting. The grand prize winner came down to a tie breaker between two phenomenal bloggers and I don't think it could have been any closer. Both did an extraordinary job of lending their talent, skill, experience & expertise to other bloggers. I am honored to be part of such a sharing group of writers and bloggers.

I have already told you how close the vote was, but I want to add this unique factor. Imagine how difficult it was to select the winner based on the criteria of the contest. Now factor in the similarity of the first names of the finalist.

In alphabetical order: Carrie and Cassie (one letter difference).

I have grown so found of these two girls and their names. I swear, if I was still young and having more children their names would be Carrie & Cassie. And I already have a Casey.

Cassie writes a fun a upbeat blog. If you have not read it, be sure to check it out. Her blog, Reading Writing and Lovin it is one you will frequent often. Her vivacious personality is breath of fresh air.

Carrie Butler's blog, So, You're a Writer, has become one of my favorites. From her cool design to her informative and personal post, I always find myself lingering and pilfering through her older post. I am borrowing this next line from her post today to demonstrate how she always manages to inspire other bloggers.

" As I said on her post, for anyone who "shows up late to the party," don't think you need to
wait for another blogfest to get help with your blog. With a supportive
community like ours, there's no reason to go it alone.:)"

Thank you, Carrie.

The Next two winners were randomly selected. Participants earned entries if they commented on my blog, used the word "Leap" (Leap Year) in their comment, blogged about the contest, tweeted, put a badge on their blog or sidebar, or commented on facebook.

I learned a lot from this blogfest (give a way). First of all, a lot of time and preparation goes into contest and blogfest. This was my first so I made a bunch of rookie mistakes. I now know that I should have used rafflecopter, but I did not even know what that was when I came up with this idea.

So I had to do the random selection the old fashioned way. Yup, draw from a hat. I didn't even have a raffle bingo thingy (just an L.S.U. Tigers ball cap)

Hopper~~ That's the word I was searching for.

So let me explain the weird photo collage that you see above. I wanted the drawing to be fair and I didn't want anyone to think I cheated so I accosted the painters who are at my house to paint my two teenage daughters' bedroom. So starting at the top left...

1. I asked the stranger to please select a folded piece of paper from the hat (with his eyes closed).

30 comments:

Carrie is amazing, isn't she? Like dude, that offer she said is totally for me too. If anyone wants any advice, or just wants to chat, I'm totally up for that! I'm a gabber, so if you contact me, be prepared to have hour long conversations and forever long friendships :)

Thank you Melissa for this wonderful blogfest! It's really been so much more than I could've hoped for. (Ha, that rhymes, lol)

And a big shout out and love for everyone who voted... not just for me, but for my pal Carrie. Love you guys!

Congratulations to the winners, especially Cassie! You rock, buddy! :)

And a huge thank you to Melissa. This blogfest was a wonderful experience. Not only did it help a lot of people, but it created an awareness. If you ask me, it knit our community a little bit tighter. :)

Hey! Whoot woo! Look at that! I won something! :D This must've gone up after I checked in yesterday. Hope your kiddos are doing better. And THANKS, Mel! You are too cool. Fun fest, and BIG congrats to all the winners! :o) <3

Thank you, Carrie. I am so glad you participated. This was such a hard decision and I know how hard it was for the voters as well (they said so). I am glad I had a chance to get to know you better and read more of your blog. I really do love your design. BTW, you have a prize as well. I will be in touch after Cassie selects her prize.

It went up late yesterday, Leigh. I intended to email the winners shortly before the post went up, but backed off the idea because so often I begin a post and am interrupted by work or family and don't get back to it until the next day. I didn't want you to get an email saying, "Congratulations, Leigh. You are a winner." Then I would have forgotten about the post and really confused everyone. Sorry, I did not give you a heads up.

If you don't have anything nice to say ... then sit by me. Kidding. Please share your thoughts. I love comments. I dislike stalkers & trolls. If you want to ask me a direct question, please email me: sugarlaw13 at live dot com